Radiation Therapy Process

Before any radiotherapy treatment, patient will undergo a treatment simulation, like a rehearsal before the actual radiation treatment. Simulation process is done in either;

• Manual Planning – Oncologist will mark the area for treatment on patient’s skin using marker pen; or
• CT Simulation – Using CT Scanner machine with high sophisticated software to localize the treatment area

Duration of a simulation procedure may vary, occasionally may take 30 minutes or more.

During the simulation process, patient image will be taken. Occasionally, certain areas of the body will be immobilized by thermoplastic shell to prevent movement during treatment. The shell is custom made and only worn during treatment.

Once the simulation process is completed, the scanned images will be sent to the treatment planning workstation. Oncologist will contour the target volume while Medical Physicist will contour the critical organs involved following generate treatment planning.

The planning process is done using sophisticated computer software and will take several days.

Oncologist will prescribe the course of radiotherapy treatment required and this may vary from 1 - 7 weeks. The duration of treatment is based on the type of cancer and medical status.

You might also be interested in the following pages.

	Screening for Cancer Screening for cancer is essentially indentifying the presence of a cancer before an individual has any symptoms relating to the cancer itself.
	Radiation Therapy Side Effects Radiotherapy is an effective treatment for many cancers, but it can cause unwanted side effects. Radiotherapy side effects vary from person to person and from the area of body being treated.